Tag Archives: Vichy

This week in the War, 15–21 February 1943: STO—le Service du travail obligatoire, Vichy’s labour service law

Posted on February 20, 2015 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, on 16 February 1943, the law concerning the Service du travail obligatoire (STO)—the compulsory labour service law—was put into action by the government of Vichy France. It applied to young French males born between 1920 and 1922 and … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 21–27 December 1942: Vichy’s Admiral Francois Darlan is assassinated in Algiers

Posted on December 25, 2014 by secondbysecond

Admiral François Darlan, the one-time right-hand man of Vichy head-of-state, Maréchal Philippe Pétain, was assassinated in Algiers this week in the war, on 24 December 1942. At the time of the Operation Torch landings in North Africa, Darlan had switched his allegiance from … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 13–19 October 1941: Falling stars in Tokyo and Vichy

Posted on October 17, 2013 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, on 16 October 1941, Vichy head of state Maréchal Philippe Pétain pronounced prison sentences upon those he saw as responsible for the fall of France. He condemned former prime ministers, Léon Blum and Édouard Daladier, and … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 11–17 August 1941: The evil wind

Posted on August 13, 2013 by secondbysecond

On 12 August 1941, Vichy’s head of state Marshal Philippe Pétain made a radio broadcast to the people of France. He had felt an evil wind (vent mauvais) blowing across many areas of France, he told them. He said that the … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 28 July–3 August 1941: French Indo-China & the Vichy-Japanese ‘protocol’

Posted on July 31, 2013 by secondbysecond

On 29 July 1941,  the government of Vichy France and the government of Japan enacted a protocol for the ‘common defence of Indo-China.’ Vichy finally had to accept the reality of the military might of Japan and situation in south-east … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 2–8 June 1941: The Syria-Lebanon Campaign

Posted on June 2, 2013 by secondbysecond

On 8 June 1941, British, Commonwealth and Free French forces invaded Syria and Lebanon to attack the Vichy-French garrisons. The aim was to prevent the German army and Luftwaffe from developing bases that would threaten the British hold on Egypt. … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 21–27 April 1941: US aid goes to (Vichy-controlled) French North Africa

Posted on April 22, 2013 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, on 26 April 1941, the Murphy-Weygand Accord came into force. American diplomat, Robert Daniel Murphy, was Roosevelt’s ‘man in Algiers’. French general, Maxime Weygand, was posted to Algiers as the Vichy government’s ‘Delegate-General’ to their … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 24 Feb–2 March 1941: Diary of a Witness

Posted on February 28, 2013 by secondbysecond

Raymond-Raoul Lambert was one of the most prominent leaders of the Jewish community in France during the 1930s and the early years of the war. From 1941 to 1943, he headed the Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF), which … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 9–15 December 1940: Laval dismissed

Posted on December 9, 2012 by secondbysecond

On 13 December 1940, Pétain fired vice-président du Conseil Pierre Laval from the number 2 spot in Vichy France. (They are pictured to the left). It served the scruffy 80-a-day chain-smoking anti-Semitic Laval right for blowing smoke in the Maréchal’s face once … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 21–27 October 1940: Entering the path of collaboration

Posted on October 27, 2012 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, on Thursday 24 October, Adolf Hitler and Maréchal Philippe Pétain, the leader of Vichy France, met at Montoire-sur-le-Loire. In most respects, the two men were remarkably different. Hitler spent his early life as an aspiring, though … Continue reading →

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